New Overwatch Character Is A Hamster In A Giant Mech Ball Of Death

After days of teasing something new would be coming to Overwatch soon, Blizzard has finally pulled back the curtain on their big secret and it just so happens to be the game's 28th playable hero. Even better, he's a hamster. Yes, a hamster, and he rolls around the battlefield in a giant ball of death. Get ready to meet the equally deadly and adorable Hammond.

Well, folks, there he is. Hammond the hamster is ready to roll into Overwatch, and his hamster ball is anything but a plastic toy. While we still don't have any details about his class, abilities or Ultimate, we at least know that he's a freaking hamster, and that's more than enough information to tide us over for the time being.

Leading up to Hammond's reveal, Blizzard dropped several cryptic hints that they were about to introduce something new to Overwatch. Fans debated whether that would be a new hero, map or mode, but quickly started leaning toward hero once a teaser popped up showing a familiar map and a spherical object moving through it quickly.

If there's one thing Overwatch fans like, it's their lore, so folks started quickly putting together the pieces to figure out who might be the game's next battler. The leading theory was that the character would be Hammond, another animal similar to Winston who had been experimented on and then went missing. Rumors of Hammond the hamster started rolling around, but nothing was confirmed until Blizzard posted the above tweet.

The reaction has been exactly what you might expect. Some folks prefer when Overwatch is darker and a bit more realistic, so they seem upset to learn that the newest hero is an adorable ball of fluff piloting a mechanized sphere of death. Others, though, seem content with the goofiness that has always been a part of the series and have already welcomed Hammond with open arms. The comments following the reveal tweet bounce back and forth between both camps, so feel free to dive in if you've got some extra time on your hands. You'll even find some expertly-used memes peppered throughout.

If we had to make a guess, Hammond looks to be an interesting spin on the standard tank class. We're guessing that he'll be able to move around the map in ball form pretty quickly but, once he pops out into full murder-robot mode and starts dishing out the hurt, he'll likely be slower and more tedious to control. But that's just speculation. We won't know more until Blizzard offers additional details.

In the meantime, feel free to share your thoughts on Hammond in the comments below. Are you a fan of the design or were you hoping for something else? What do you think his abilities will be? How about that Ultimate?